Ein Hijleh (English)

Blue is the Oslo Zone C. This is alsopartof Palestine. TheWest Bank was occupiedin 1967.At that time Ein Hijlehwasethnically cleansedand closed, the inhabitants driven out

It was plan to negotiate more in details on the ZoneC,according toOsloII, signed in 1995, because that time around130,000Israelisettlers lived there, whohad gatheredsince 1967there andbecause Israel as usual argued with securityaspects. But a partial withdrawalshould have been done until1999. Of course Israel did not do that andnow there areabout 300,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank. There was another settlement freeze in between, namely 2001, in connection with the agreementof theso-calledroadmap.At that timethere were about 200.000 settlersinthe West Bank.So you see, these agreementswere in fact not worth the paper,and because EU had noticed that as well, there is now aboycott oftheeconomy in theseillegal settlements.

Wholooks at themap will note thatPalestine iscut off from theentire river Jordan. And therefore off the areawith its most importantresources, which of courseincludes theJordanwater.This is surelyagreatwayto underminethe existence of farmers, because where there is nowater, there’snothing to do withagriculture.Where there are no Israeli settlements, then there are military zones, and when thatlooks a bit too funny, it’s just declared asa nature reserve. Quasiin stock.So it isnot surprisingthat thePalestinian townsthere, the purple dots, in no small degree liveofinternationalsupport.

The extreme right in Israel, which is now probably pretty much expected to be mainstream, say, the West Bank belongs to them , because it should be Judea and Samaria. Well. This is religion , so it’s them at liberty to believe that. But there are a lot of religions in the world, Judaism is certainly not the most significant , and therefore no religion may require to be recognized as the only true ( which finally any religion claims to be) , but it has to hold on the secular international law . Also the Christians have ever claimed that Palestine belongs to them , and also they ‚ justified ‚ this with their religious beliefs , according to which the Jews were not entitled to it because since Jesus there would be a new covenant with God and a new people of God , the Christians . The old Palestinians , Canaanites , Philistines, and as their ancestors were all called , are used to such claims more than 3,000 years and no one can blame them that they do not care much about; they are experienced with that.

Today thecivilized worldadheres to thesecularinternationallaw andunder that law the West Bank belongsto Palestine.Basta. Something elsedoes not apply.Certainlythe international communityregards forall the people wholive there, including theillegalsettlers, but that does not change theterritorialconditions. Shall mean, the territoryof a state andthe individualswho live in itare two differentsites.

That thePalestinians once said it’senough, wenowturn the tables, wefetch backour traditionalterritory, and this quitepeaceful andcivil,is close– becausetheillegal Israelisettlers operated quite similar, only that theygenerallyare notrestrained fromtheir purposeandare also lesspeaceful.„Salt of the Earth“ is the programof the Palestinians, Arabic „al–Ard Melh„. Ein Hijlehwas not thefirst recall campaignand it willnot be thelast, but she was the one with thebiggestattention.

That was of course nothing theIsraelis did like. At first they cordoned offthe entrances, particularly the main road, Route 90west ofJericho, Ein Hijlehis situated near theeast side of this road. In particular, waterand food shouldnot get thereand of course nojournalists.Confiscatedwaterinitiallycouldpeacefully be takenbackandvisitors, who carried something with them, too: witha big helloa whole group ofBedouinsfromHebron met–on horseback and they had load plenty offoodfor the obligatoryeveningparty.

Aparticular annoyancewasthis sign: „State of Palestine–village EinHijleh– Welcome“, it says, and here itis heldon Route90. It annoyed the Israeli soldiers to be seen in the back on the road that much, thatthey triedtoevacuate the village at once. Withtear gas andphysical effortin which thearmof a Palestinianwenttobreak, who,after the armat the hospital in Jerichohad beensplintedand supplied, undauntedreturned.

Obviously, theIsraelis hadnotto do withmilitants, as they usually claim, butwithallnormal, peacefulcitizens who were even from the region and were familiar with it the bestand, as you can seehere, had nospecial respectin front ofIsraelisoldiers . On the contrary,they gaveoutthe motto, we doall that withoutany violence, but we are not going awayandconfront withthem faceto face. Well, the too few soldiers couldnot do much against that and wentoff again.Notwithoutsmearing at thecarefullypaintedwelcome screen on a wall.

There were more visitors . Perhaps most important Archbishop Atallah Hanna. Because the old Canaanite Ein Hijleh was a Christian- Orthodox village , therefor it actually belongs to the church. Of course, the Israelis would not let Archbishop Hanna pass by ; did not matter, he went the last kilometers to Ein Hijleh by foot, as well as a delegation of EU diplomats who also expressed their sympathy with their visit . Archbishop Hanna had nothing to say against the re-colonisation of a Hijleh and said that the churches of Palestine stood behind all this action.

Ein Hijleh was now cheerfully and colorfully adorned and there was a lot of activity . Old houses were repaired , trees planted, paths cleared of rubble , even a solar system was installed. Much work had to be done with the water pipe , for that was capped four times by the Israeli army – and repaired four times by the Palestinians . Method Gaddafi , because also he capped gas, electricity and water off the Libyan cities which he besieged. Dinner was cooked and eaten together , they played music and heard lectures . It will remind you of some squatters in Western countries , only that Ein Hijleh was more colorful , cheerful, peaceful and nearer to family life .

On the night of6Februarya newchicane came with a rathermalicious look: the militarycircled thevillageinmilitary vehicleswithsirens blaring. It makes you thinkto a‚popular‘ torturemethod by which they seek to cave in political prisoners: systematicsleep deprivation.The residents ofNabiSalehtookthis as an opportunityto cancel theirFridaydemonstrationand instead topullwith all handsafter Ein Hijleh, to spend the night there. In the evening the alreadypendingchildren’s birthdaywas celebrated.

„We have come to stay,“ for the soldiers it was clear that with few chicanes nothing was aligned against the Palestinians. Especially since Palestinians are likely to be against it pretty tough . Prison camps, torture, beatings , that’s what one expects anyhow. So in the night of 7th February the Israelis pulled some 1,000 soldiers and border policemen together, like thieves in the night, and broke off. One should look into this video in order to get an idea. About 500 Palestinians, men, women and children were violently arrested, the soldiers took the children out from the ambulances , in which the adults had brought them quickly for safety , forced them into buses and transported them to Jericho. The hospital had of course work , because it were about 40 injured , mostly by blows with rifle butts . Some women came almost in a panic , because the Israelis had driven them so close to the open fire, that they feared to fall into it . And yet , it took a relatively long time until the Israelis had cleared the village completely. For these civilians could not be driven out so easily , they had almost to be carried away.

The Israelisdid a ‚great‘job: they came with bulldozers at onceand you can feelthe hatred thatsitsbehind it, slowed downonlyby the fact thatthe Palestiniansresisted non-violently:nobeat, stones or evenfireworksin a fix, as ouryounghooligans do so muchifit goes againstthe„Bull pigs“ (police). Just with that nameour young peoplewould probably havecalled theIsraelisoldiers and border police, with some justification–butPalestineis not arampagegame.Since this issomething essential, one’s ownand inheritedland from whichthey werecooked,systematicallydistributed inmany years, decades.„Ethnic Cleansing“ it is called.

„We’ll be back“ –yes, thatisprobably true. For Ein Hijlehisstillthere inthe occupied West Bank, as a memorial toso many other places whichtheir ancestralinhabitants had to leave forced, but nowcleaned up anddressedandwith the vividmemory ofhappyhuman lifethat existedthere for a weekand that toowillreturnagain – butthen probablyforever.